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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Looker

    Score8.1 out of 10
    N/ALooker is a BI application with an analytics-oriented application server that sits on top of relational data stores. It includes an end-user interface for exploring data, a reusable development paradigm for data discovery, and an API for supporting data in other systems.N/A

    Azure SQL Database

    Score8.5 out of 10
    N/AAzure SQL Database is Microsoft's relational database as a service (DBaaS).

    $0.50

    Per Hour

    Pricing
    LookerAzure SQL Database
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    2 vCORE
    $0.5044
    Per Hour
    6 vCORE
    $1.5131
    Per Hour
    10 vCORE
    $2.52
    Per Hour
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    LookerAzure SQL Database
    Free Trial
    YesNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    YesNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeRequiredNo setup fee
    Additional DetailsMust contact sales team for pricing.—
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    LookerAzure SQL Database
    Considered Both Products
    Google
    No answer on this topic
    Microsoft
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    98%
    Would buy again
    85 Answers
    100%
    Would buy again
    17 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    99%
    Delivers good value for the price
    75 Answers
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    16 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    87 Answers
    94%
    Happy with the feature set
    16 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    98%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    55 Answers
    93%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    14 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    97%
    Implementation went as expected
    69 Answers
    94%
    Implementation went as expected
    16 Answers
    Features
    LookerAzure SQL Database
    BI Standard Reporting
    Comparison of BI Standard Reporting features of Looker and Azure SQL Database
    Feature
    Looker
    7.4
    134 Ratings
    10% below category average
    Azure SQL Database
    -
    Ratings
    Pixel Perfect reports6.5110 Ratings00 Ratings
    Customizable dashboards8.2133 Ratings00 Ratings
    Report Formatting Templates7.5115 Ratings00 Ratings
    Ad-hoc Reporting
    Comparison of Ad-hoc Reporting features of Looker and Azure SQL Database
    Feature
    Looker
    6.8
    132 Ratings
    16% below category average
    Azure SQL Database
    -
    Ratings
    Drill-down analysis6.3128 Ratings00 Ratings
    Formatting capabilities6.6130 Ratings00 Ratings
    Integration with R or other statistical packages5.655 Ratings00 Ratings
    Report sharing and collaboration8.8131 Ratings00 Ratings
    Report Output and Scheduling
    Comparison of Report Output and Scheduling features of Looker and Azure SQL Database
    Feature
    Looker
    7.9
    128 Ratings
    4% below category average
    Azure SQL Database
    -
    Ratings
    Publish to Web7.7105 Ratings00 Ratings
    Publish to PDF7.8113 Ratings00 Ratings
    Report Versioning7.984 Ratings00 Ratings
    Report Delivery Scheduling8.2110 Ratings00 Ratings
    Data Discovery and Visualization
    Comparison of Data Discovery and Visualization features of Looker and Azure SQL Database
    Feature
    Looker
    6.6
    128 Ratings
    19% below category average
    Azure SQL Database
    -
    Ratings
    Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.)7.7124 Ratings00 Ratings
    Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization7.5110 Ratings00 Ratings
    Predictive Analytics4.66 Ratings00 Ratings
    Access Control and Security
    Comparison of Access Control and Security features of Looker and Azure SQL Database
    Feature
    Looker
    7.3
    128 Ratings
    15% below category average
    Azure SQL Database
    -
    Ratings
    Multi-User Support (named login)7.5120 Ratings00 Ratings
    Role-Based Security Model7.2105 Ratings00 Ratings
    Multiple Access Permission Levels (Create, Read, Delete)7.2122 Ratings00 Ratings
    Report-Level Access Control7.360 Ratings00 Ratings
    Mobile Capabilities
    Comparison of Mobile Capabilities features of Looker and Azure SQL Database
    Feature
    Looker
    5.2
    95 Ratings
    39% below category average
    Azure SQL Database
    -
    Ratings
    Responsive Design for Web Access4.991 Ratings00 Ratings
    Mobile Application5.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Dashboard / Report / Visualization Interactivity on Mobile5.885 Ratings00 Ratings
    Database-as-a-Service
    Comparison of Database-as-a-Service features of Looker and Azure SQL Database
    Feature
    Looker
    -
    Ratings
    Azure SQL Database
    7.2
    32 Ratings
    16% below category average
    Automatic software patching00 Ratings6.330 Ratings
    Database scalability00 Ratings7.832 Ratings
    Automated backups00 Ratings7.832 Ratings
    Database security provisions00 Ratings8.832 Ratings
    Monitoring and metrics00 Ratings6.831 Ratings
    Automatic host deployment00 Ratings6.127 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    LookerAzure SQL Database
    Small Businesses
    Cyfe
    Score4 out of 10
    MongoDB Atlas
    Score7.8 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Qlik Cloud Analytics (Qlik Sense)
    Score8.1 out of 10
    Azure Database
    Score8.8 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Sisense
    Score6.9 out of 10
    Google Cloud SQL
    Score8.7 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    LookerAzure SQL Database
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.0
    (134 ratings)
    8.0
    (32 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    9.2
    (8 ratings)
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    Usability
    8.8
    (12 ratings)
    8.5
    (5 ratings)
    Availability
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Performance
    6.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    8.8
    (14 ratings)
    9.0
    (5 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Configurability
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Data Sharing and Collaboration
    8.5
    (51 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Data Sources
    7.3
    (51 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Professional Services
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    LookerAzure SQL Database
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Google
    When data drives potential for new orders, Looker earns its place in our tech stack. If, on the other hand, we are hoping for pipeline generation, Looker is useful if you are willing to repeatedly go check customer utilizations .... it is not appropriate if you are hoping to automate data analysis for this purpose.
    Incentivized
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    Microsoft
    We have found it's a great alternative for making older legacy applications work with online databases instead of only on-premises databases. We've converted over a dozen applications this way, and it has allowed our clients to have a distributed workforce using their applications without incurring the expense of a complete application rewrite.
    Incentivized
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    Pros
    Google
    • Show visited pages - sessions, pageviews - which programs are viewed the most.
    • Displays session source/medium views to see where users are coming from.
    • It shows the video titles, URLs, and event counts so we can monitor the performance of our videos.
    • It gives a graphic face to the numbers, such as using bar charts, pie graphs, and other charts to show user trends or which channels are driving engagement.
    • Our clients like to see the top pages visited for a month.
    • I like the drop-and-drag approach, and building charts is a little easier than it was before.
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    Microsoft
    • Maintenance is always an issue, so using a cloud solution saves a lot of trouble.
    • On premise solutions always suffer from fragmented implementations here and there, where several "dba's" keep track of security and maintenance. With a cloud database it's much easier to keep a central overview.
    • Security options in SQL database are next level... data masking, hiding sensitive data where always neglected on premise, whereas you'll get this automatically in the cloud.
    Incentivized
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    Cons
    Google
    • Documentation is scarce, and very difficult to find when you need it.
    • Pricing is unclear, particularly as you look to scale your reports across the business.
    • Data from other sources is not represented in the system as well as first party Google services.
    Incentivized
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    Microsoft
    • One needs to be aware that some T-SQL features are simply not available.
    • The programmatic access to server, trace flags, hardware from within Azure SQL Database is taken away (for a good reason).
    • No SQL Agent so your jobs need to be orchestrated differently.
    • The maximum concurrent logins maybe an unexpected problem.
    • Sudden disconnects.
    • The developers and admin must study the capacity and tier usage limits https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-subscription-service-limits otherwise some errors or even transaction aborts never seen before can occur.
    • Only one Latin Collation choice.
    • There is no way to debug T-SQL ( a big drawback in my point of view).
    Incentivized
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    Likelihood to Renew
    Google
    I give it this rating because it deems as effective, I am able to complete majority of my tasks using this app. It is very helpful when analyzing the data provided and shown in the app and it's just overall a great app for Operational use, despite the small hiccups it has (live data).
    Incentivized
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    Microsoft
    This is best solution as a DBA one could expect from a service provider and as a cloud service, it removes all your hassles.
    Incentivized
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    Usability
    Google
    Looker is relatively easy to use, even as it is set up. The customers for the front-end only have issues with the initial setup for looker ml creations. Other "looks" are relatively easy to set up, depending on the ETL and the data which is coming into Looker on a regular basis.
    Incentivized
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    Microsoft
    The interfaces are intuitive once you are familiar with all the functions. The ability to use different tools to interact with the platform, such as directly via a browser or code editors such as VS Code or Visual Studio is a great option and allows for integrating withn the project and other testing and developing tools.
    Incentivized
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    Reliability and Availability
    Google
    No objections
    Incentivized
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    Microsoft
    No answers on this topic
    Performance
    Google
    Somehow resources heavy, both on server and client. I recommned at least 50Mbs data rate and high performance desktop comouter to be abke to run comolex tasks and configure larger amount of data. On the other hand, the client does not need to worry when viewing, the performance is usually ok
    Incentivized
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    Microsoft
    No answers on this topic
    Support Rating
    Google
    Never had to work with support for issues. Any questions we had, they would respond promptly and clearly. The one-time setup was easy, by reading documentation. If the feature is not supported, they will add a feature request. In this case, LDAP support was requested over OKTA. They are looking into it.
    Incentivized
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    Microsoft
    We give the support a high rating simply because every time we've had issues or questions, representatives were in contact with us quickly. Without fail, our issues/questions were handled in a timely matter. That kind of response is integral when client data integrity and availability is in question. There is also a wealth of documentation for resolving issues on your own.
    Incentivized
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    Implementation Rating
    Google
    Very satisfied, easy to implement
    Incentivized
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    Microsoft
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    Google
    Looker Studio, you can easily report on data from various sources without programming. Looker Studio is available at no charge for creators and report viewers. Enterprise customers who upgrade to Looker Studio Pro will receive support and expanded administrative features, including team content management. So it's good.
    Incentivized
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    Microsoft
    We moved away from Oracle and NoSQL because we had been so reliant on them for the last 25 years, the pricing was too much and we were looking for a way to cut the cord. Snowflake is just too up in the air, feels like it is soon to be just another line item to add to your Azure subscription. Azure was just priced right, easy to migrate to and plenty of resources to hire to support/maintain it. Very easy to learn, too.
    Incentivized
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    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    Google
    Perfect price to performance
    Incentivized
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    Microsoft
    No answers on this topic
    Return on Investment
    Google
    • Looker has a poignant impact on our business's ROI objectives. As an advertising exchange we have specific goals for daily requests and fill, and having premade Looks to monitor this is an integral piece of our operational capability
    • To facilitate an efficient monthly billing cycle in our organization, Looker is essential to track estimated revenue and impression delivery by publisher. Without the Looks we have set up, we would spend considerably more time and effort segmenting revenue by vertical.
    • Looker's unique value proposition is making analytical tools more digestible to people without conventional analytical experience. Other competing tools like Tableau require considerably more training and context to successfully use, and the ability to easily plot different visualizations is one of its greatest selling points.
    Incentivized
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    Microsoft
    • Perfect for small and medium databases, being very cost effective.
    • As a Platform as a Service, there is no concern about patches, upgrades and end of life.
    • Be aware of security and network capabilities. The service cannot run in the VNET as Azure Virtual Machines do.
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    Looker Screenshots

    Screenshot of a Looker dashboard with a geo chart.